Shentel Completes $640M nTelos Deal, Doubles Customer Base

Shareholders of Waynesboro, VA-based nTelos Holding Corp. spent the weekend celebrating the sale of the Sprint-affiliated wireless operator. Shenandoah Telecommunications Company of Edinburg, VA paid $9.25 a share for the company, gaining about 300,00 new in portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, more than doubling the Shentel wireless customer base. The deal closed Friday.
 
Shentel said the added operations further strengthen and expand its “solid partnership with Sprint.” Shentel intends to accelerate its intensive integration activities in order to merge the two organizations. nTelos was the nation’s eighth-largest service provider. It’s nTelos-branded retail stores will become Shentel-operated Sprint stores, FierceWireless reported.

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White House Initiative Has Carriers Commit to Hiring Veterans

Telecom operators last week unveiled plans to hire tens of thousands of veterans as part of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative. The initiative, launched in 2011, by First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of vice president Joe Biden, aims to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the year 2021.
 
“On land and in the air, under the sea and out in space, America has the most technologically advanced armed forces in history,” wrote the pair in an op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
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Sprint To Slash Capital Spending

 The carrier intends to lop off as much $1.7 billion in network equipment and other capital goods in fiscal year 2016. Sprint invested $4.7 billion in the 2015 fiscal year and $5.4 billion in 2014, according to RCRWireless.
 
Sprint delivered the news earlier this week when it announced its quarterly financial results with a focus on cost reductions in the coming months and quarters. In its outlook, Sprint management said it expected to see a $2 billion savings from handset lease restructuring and pick up a 40 percent reduction in its capex budget. The strategy got a lukewarm response by some on Wall Street.
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Vertical Bridge Acquires Tower Portfolio from Alaska Wireless Network

The Alaskan operation said during its financial results conference call two months ago it was shopping its tower assets and it looks like a buyer from Florida has answered the bell. Vertical Bridge said late Wednesday it will scoop up 275 sites from General Communications, Inc. (GCI), including 200 towers and 70 rooftop locations, operated by Alaska Wireless Network. Vertical Bridge will also provide build to suit services to the network for the next five years in the sale-leaseback deal valued at $91 million. When the transaction closes, Vertical Bridge will be the largest tower owner in the state of Alaska with approximately 300 wireless/broadcast sites.
 
“Vertical Bridge is excited to be chosen as a long term partner with AWN,” said Alex Gellman, Vertical Bridge’s CEO and co-founder. “These are unique, high quality, fiber ready towers built in very good locations. The tower portfolio provides full coverage of the major population centers and the vast connecting corridors in this great state.” Continue Reading

West Virginia Federal Judge Consolidates Tower Collapse Suits

A federal judge in West Virginia U.S. District Court has granted a motion to consolidate six lawsuits involving a tower collapse that killed two tower workers and a firefighter called to the scene, and injured two others. Judge Irene M. Keeley agreed to combine five suits against SBA Communications and various entities. A sixth lawsuit filed by SBA Telecommunications LLC, as successor interest to SBA Telecommunications Inc. and SBA Towers LLC, was against S&S Communications Specialists Inc. and FDH Engineering Inc., according to the legal publication, West Virginia Record. Keely signed the order to consolidate April 11, and last Friday approved a motion filed on behalf of the dead and injured to extend the time to respond to SBA, an attorney with the case told Inside Towers yesterday (May 3). Continue Reading

Veteran Tower Climber Shares Stories, Talks Evolution of Climber Safety

By Benjamin Horvath – Inside Towers Special Correspondent

 

It’s easy to overlook the tough, blue-collar work that makes the convenience of a Smartphone possible. Every phone call, text message, Facebook post and tweet is made possible by the men and women who make a living by working on towers.

Decades ago, the tower climber occupation was known for its dangerous working conditions, as safety regulations and practices had not yet been developed for the burgeoning industry.
Many veteran climbers share stories of job sites in the old days, and they will tell you just how far the industry has evolved in climber safety. Continue Reading

American Tower Revenues Shoot to the Moon

American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) this morning reported its total first quarter revenue increased 19.4 percent to $1.29 billion during the first quarter that ended March 31, 2016. The global giant said its U.S. revenue grew 19 percent to $852 million while International revenue was up 21 percent to $416 million. The company saw its business in Latin America grow 5.7 percent, Europe, Middle East and Africa increase 71 percent respectively, and Asia business increased 11 percent. Its small services segment grew 24% to $21 million.
 
“The global proliferation of Smartphones is driving significant growth in subscriber demand for higher bandwidth applications,” said American Tower’s CEO Jim Taiclet. “As a result, during the first quarter, we continued to experience solid leasing demand across our served markets as mobile operators invest in their networks to manage key performance factors, including coverage, capacity and peak network speed. Continue Reading